That’s ok….
But?
What about Hamas?
The United Nations Security Council on Monday approved President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, a breakthrough that provides a legal U.N. mandate for the administration’s vision of how to move past the cease-fire and rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip after two years of war.
The Council’s vote was also a major diplomatic victory for the Trump administration. For the past two years, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas has raged, the United States had been isolated at the United Nations over its staunch support for Israel.
The U.S. resolution calls for an International Stabilization Force to enter, demilitarize and govern Gaza. The proposal, which contained Mr. Trump’s 20-point cease-fire plan, also envisions a “Board of Peace” to oversee the peace plan, though it does not clarify the composition of the board.
The resolution passed with 13 votes in favor and zero votes against. Russia and China, either of which could have vetoed it, abstained, apparently swayed by the support for the resolution from a number of Arab and Muslim nations: Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan, which is a member of the Council….
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Still, the path forward is plagued by many uncertainties, with Israeli strikes continuing in Gaza and outbreaks of violence erupting in the West Bank. Among the next steps would be naming members of the Board of Peace, the body in charge of overseeing the transition in Gaza, and clarifying under whose authority the stabilization forces would operate.
The resolution says that if the Palestinian Authority, which partly governs the West Bank, undergoes reforms and the redevelopment of the shattered Gaza Strip advances, the conditions “may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”…
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Among the challenges the International Stabilization Force will face is how to confront Hamas’s fighters, who are still armed and present in Gaza. The resolution states that the force would be responsible for destroying military infrastructure in Gaza and decommissioning the militant groups’s weapons.
But Arab and Muslim countries expected to send soldiers to Gaza — Egypt, Indonesia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates — are wary of their troops’ engaging in armed clashes with Palestinian militants and of any more bloodshed turning Arab public opinion against their involvement.
The Trump administration sought the mandate at the United Nations because those countries said they needed Security Council authorization so that their troops would not be viewed by their own populations as occupiers in Gaza.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said on Monday: “The demilitarization of Hamas is a basic condition of the peace agreement. There will be no future in Gaza as long as Hamas possesses weapons.”
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The stakes were high for all the major actors. Palestinians want the suffering and the war to end. Israelis want Hamas disarmed. And the United States hoped to be the major player bringing peace to the region.
The U.N. secretary general, António Guterres, welcomed the resolution, saying in a statement that it was an important step, and he encouraged all parties to abide by it. “It is essential now to translate the diplomatic momentum into concrete and urgently needed steps on the ground,” he said
The resolution allows the World Bank, a U.N. entity, to allocate financial resources for the reconstruction of Gaza and calls for the establishment of a dedicated trust fund for this purpose.
It authorizes the Board of Peace to oversee Gaza at least until the end of 2027 and says that the enclave would be managed day-to-day by a “technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the Strip.”…
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